Salmonberries- like the fish?

I've been doing a lot of research on food lately.  What I should be eating, where it comes from and the processes various foods go through to get to my tummy.  I don't have a green thumb so while I enjoy fresh produce immensely, you won't see me wearing garden gloves anytime soon!  However, I've been learning that Alaska is full of natural and sustainable resources!  From the fresh seafood, wild game and produce that comes from this State it's interesting that there aren't more Hippies here.  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty, but my point is that I'm pretty sure you could live strictly off the land.  Oh wait, I've seen Life Below Zero on Nat. Geo. following some of these crazy awesome Alaskans who do it!  Anywho...

Yesterday D and I decided to go on a little expedition for these:

Meet the Salmonberry.

Rubus spectabilis as the nerd-tastic community calls them, are readily available in our area!  The Salmonberry gets their name from their roe (fish egg) like appearance.  These berries taste nothing like fish eggs, trust me!  Salmonberries look a lot like raspberries and grow in a bush with seriously thorny limbs.  I don't know how many times I heard expletives from the Husband or myself!  You can read a bit more on these berries from this amazing website or the ever so dependable Wikipedia page!  Please tell me you can hear the sarcasm oozing from my "voice"...anyone, Buler?

Just like the fishing spots I spoke about here, people guard their berry picking honey holes fiercely!  D and I decided to head out and try our luck at a few different locations to see if we could get any of these seasonal and delectable morsels!  I'm happy to say after about 2 hours we had 2lbs of berries and a lot of fun!  

How do you make picking berries fun you ask?  Well, you put one competitive husband and wife team together and then try to get the biggest berry while seeing who can fill their bucket first.  I clearly won.  Also- I became the look out while D tried to Michael Jordan it up the cliff to grab some golfball sized beauties.  No, we weren't doing anything illegal not that I would tell you, it was a bear lookout!  SO. FUN.  My inner nature girl was beaming, even while swatting away massive mosquitoes!

Salmonberry recipes coming to a blog near you!  Sustainability and nature are rocking my socks off!  Go AK!

Until next time...